Government and Industry Encouraged to Explore Feasibility of Producing Medicine From Byproducts of Hog Production

A southwestern Manitoba farmer is calling on government and industry to explore the feasibility of establishing a processing facility in Manitoba to extract medical compounds from the byproducts of hog processing. Heparin is a blood thinner that prevents the formation of blood clots.

Jim Downey, a southwestern Manitoba farmer and former provincial Agriculture Minister and Deputy Premier, told reporters on hand yesterday for day-1 of Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon, he became interested in the medical side of hog production about three years ago when he was contacted by a Chinese company looking to find out what was being done with the mucosa from the guts of the hogs being slaughtered in Manitoba.

Quote-Jim Downey-Southwestern Manitoba Farmer:

Heparin is the final product that's made from the mucosa of the gut of a pig.The other source is a synthetic kind which is far more expensive.The mucosa is turned into the blood thinners and obviously, with the numbers of hogs, the millions of hogs that are slaughtered here in Manitoba, we have a large supply of it.

To date, whether it's the Maple leaf plan in here Brandon or the  Hylife plant in Neepawa, they do two different processes.One of them, the main object is to get the mucosa.It is very fragile and of course time sensitive so it has to get to the processor as quickly as possible.

I believe, by the numbers of pigs that we have here, the opportunity has to be investigated and should be looked at by federal, provincial and industry people to enhance the income for hog producers but also create a lot more jobs from that hog industry right here in Manitoba.The other side of it is, I understand that the mucosa from one pig in a normal operating room, it would do about four heart surgeries or four applications of it. So, we're sitting here with a raw product that I think the producers could make more money from if they were part of this and I know the packing industry are always looking for greater opportunity and I think it could be a great thing for Manitoba.

Dowey suggests heparin production would offer the opportunity for Manitobans to further enhance their incomes and bring Manitoba onto the main stage of "hogs for medicine."